Stella didn't come down to meet us, because she was busy and also in charge. She DID call us up to say hello, which was nice, and if was fun to see Celine and Benny awed by SOMETHING. Stella's office was impressive in it's own right. It occurred to me that as a Guild Master of one of the branches, she would have access to resources that an F-ranker in Valen might not. I'd only ever met with E-rankers in official faction headquarters, it was probable people like Alexander had crazy rooms like this squirreled away somewhere to meet with other big names.

The Guild Master looked the same as I remembered, no nonsense bun, well tailored suit, sitting at a huge wooden desk. Unlike the first time I'd seen her though she was smiling warmly when she saw us. "Hail the conquering heroes." She said with a chuckle. "My budget has nearly tripled because of you two, you know? Between your win and the nonsense Mr. Jack-tastic has been getting up to Velan's star is on the rise, so to speak." She gave a wink so subtle that I almost missed it when she dropped the pun.

"That was bad." Said Callie in a deadpan tone. "And you should feel bad for saying it. Is this what you do when I'm not here? Spend your time coming up with bad celestial puns? I need to visit more often I guess. I should have known nothing gets done around here without me."

Snorting, Stella looked over her glasses at my girlfriend. "Little girl, you've bulked up a decent amount in Rajak, but the day I need a G-ranked baby telling me my business is the day I retire. Especially a G-ranked baby who needed her Auntie to cover for her when she slept through a patrol rotation eight times in the first year she was on the job." The two of them had teasing smiles tugging at their lips as they bantered.

I gave a wave. "Nice to see you boss. Hope things have been quiet. Glad we could drop in and say hi." I leaned forward, lowering my voice. "Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, maybe you can tell me more about these missed rotations. I'm always looking for good material to keep her humble." Callie glared at me and elbowed me in the ribs pointedly, which didn't do much given she wasn't trying to hurt me and I was in F-ranked armor.

"I think." Said Stella with a smirk. "You are pretty much the worst possible influence on her humility. Or did someone forget asking me to partner him with Nightstrike when we were working up his contract?" My eyes widened because I HAD forgotten that. My Focus had been ridiculously low when that happened. I very carefully kept my eyes on Stella as I felt my cheeks burn.

Callie, smiled broadly like a shark scenting blood as she cooed. "Oh, sweetie. That's so cute. I was like your mortal crush. Did you collect my merchandise? I still have a full set of those Nightstrike novelty mugs lying around somewhere. Do you need any of the holiday run? Those can be hard to find." I could hear suppressed laughter in her voice as I did my best to completely ignore her comments.

"I was hardly the only person to have a crush on you." I said with faux dignity. "And no. I have them all." I mumbled. "But my two hundredth anniversary Unity mug is cracked. I wouldn't say no to swapping it out with one in mint condition." They both just stared at me, and I felt everyone who wasn't Benny swing around to look at me in disbelief. "They're a good investment!" I defended myself fervently. "Those mugs are worth forty six percent more than they were when I bought them! Plus Callie has been crushing it in Rajak. Jokes on you, when we hit S-rank I'll auction the damn things at the WCP headquarters."

Giggling musically, Callie buried her face in my shoulder as she pulled me into a hug. "It's ok sweetie. I know you're a huge nerd. I love you anyway. She's right though. You are the worst possible thing for my humility. Teasing not withstanding, you're the most supportive boyfriend I can imagine."

"Ok." I said, irrationally offended that I was being told I was a good boyfriend. "Can we get back to the meeting please? This is about catching up with Stella, not putting my collecting habits under a microscope. Amelia! Aren't you and Stella old friends? Don't you have things to tell her? It's been a pretty big week for you right? So much to fill her in on, don't you think?" I said almost desperately. Literally anything to change the damn subject.

Amelia just clucked her tongue. "Honestly Shane. Even I didn't buy the novelty mugs." She said judgmentally, ignoring my glare. "But yes, hello Stacy. wonderful to see you again. You look like you've fit into your role here wonderfully. I've had a certain former paramour of yours staying at my home recently. He talks about you when he isn't paying attention to guarding his tongue. We all do so love our masks don't we?" She gave a subtle wink of her own.

Unlike Stella's joke, Amelia's produced visible results as the Guild Master's face lit up tomato red as she squeaked. "Amy! Don't talk about my romantic history in front of the kids!" She averted her eyes and sniffed. "And I know he's here. If he wants to see me he can get off his lazy ass and come visit. I'm not his nanny. I don't need to go running every time he shows up in town."

"Well, if you're going to tease my daughter and my poor little future son-in-law." Amelia said, ignoring the wide eyed squawks of shock and yelps of mortification from Callie and I because that was moving WAY too fast. "I'm going to poke fun." She arched an eyebrow in challenge. "Now, why don't you climb out from behind that absurd desk and come with us to meet with Benjamin. I haven't seen the boy in years and I want to make sure he hasn't blown himself up in any permanent fashion."

Seeing the normally implacable Guild Master look like a chastised teenager made this entire thing worth it. As she climbed down, Amelia shot me a conspiratorial wink and I had to fight a smile. It was nice to know she liked me at least. As we met Stella at the other side of the desk (which had an entire set of stairs for descending) she smiled at the younger woman. "Jokes aside though, I'm here to register for intake. I've recently developed an ability of my own, much to everyone's surprise."

Stella actually tripped when she heard that, turning to stare in shock at Amelia. "I...what? At forty? That is...so rare. I mean, dear gods, I can count the number of times I've heard of that happening on one hand with fingers left over." She paused, looking suspicious. "Wait, you said Zeke was staying with you?"

She came to pretty much the exact wrong conclusion, but I decided to play into it. The WCP knew about my ability, and that would eventually spread to the Unity, but for now having an alibi might keep the information away from people like Midknight for just a bit longer. I raised my hand. "I asked Zeke to get a wish for her. He had some favors to call in, and he was drunk for my last like...eleven birthdays, so I figured he owed me one."

I felt a bit bad lying to Stella about this when she'd been so nice, but worst case I could apologize and offer her a wish or something later to make up for it. At the mention of Zeke's drinking she just rolled her eyes with a huff, clearly distracted by my uncle's alcohol intake and not thinking past the easy answer I'd given her. Callie twined her hand in mine and squeezed, which I knew was a thank you, but which fit with the story well enough anyway. I still felt a warmth in the pit of my stomach at the gesture.

We headed down the steps to Beaker's lab, Amelia telling Stella all about her new abilities as best she knew them. She didn't bother filling her in on stats since she had to do the intake anyway and we would all just see them. I snickered internally when I remembered how impressed Stella had been that I'd managed to hit H-rank before coming in. Amelia wasn't quite there, but she was damn close. I foresaw a pretty lucrative contract in her future.

We remounted the spiraling crystalline stairs, and when we got a certain part of the way down, Stella stopped and fished a key from her suit pocket. I recognized it as the one Stricture had used all those months ago. She slipped it into a spot mid air, that with my current Perception I could BARELY see shimmering, and turned it with a click, letting the same door we'd seen at my own intake swing open. She gestured us all in, and Amelia took the lead.

Entering with a sniff of disapproval, Amelia looked around and shook her head. "That boy. Functionally incapable of not making a mess." She looked around before calling out impatiently. "Benjamin! You have guests, dear. Be polite and come say hello." It occurred to me that Beaker, being F-rank himself, was probably older than he looked, and much closer to Stella's age than the twenty years he appeared. He'd probably just ranked up early.

Beaker came stumbling out of a side room, carrying a glass tube full of bubbling neon pink liquid, eyes bleary behind his glasses. He froze when he saw Amelia, and I saw the carefree attitude melt from him as he stood up straight, looking like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Miss. Amy! It's...so good to see you. What brings you to my study? I haven't seen you in quite some time."

Out of all the reactions I'd seen from other people, this was the first one that seemed more afraid than fond. Not in a genuine way you might see from someone who had been bullied, but in the sheepish way you'd see from someone talking to a strict mother. Stella's generation had been kids when Paul was active, so I guessed that made sense, but it was a weird thing to see from Beaker of all people. Especially knowing how things ended up. I remembered Callie saying that her mother spent most of her time at the house when she was growing up. I supposed Amelia had stopped coming around after Stella and Beaker's time, maybe when Callie was born.

Amelia gave him a fond smile. "It's nice to see you too Benjamin. I see, you've managed to confine your messes to an appropriate work area. That's excellent to see." She gestured down at herself. "As for why I'm here, well...I'll be needing one of your intake devices. I've recently developed an Ascendant ability of my own. I'm here to register my stats for the first time."

Rather than being shocked, Beaker looked excited. "Oh, really? That is FASCINATING. You hardly ever see older people awakening an Ability. I've never gotten to process one before." He turned to bustle off to one side of the room to look for the device, breaking off conversation without any acknowledgement as the same old manic energy reignited in the spectacled man. He paused after he got about five feet, looking over his shoulder. "Well...are you coming or not? I believe we have a test to run." We all followed him with a chuckle. It was nice to see Beaker had stayed the same. Visiting him was never boring, at least.